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6 Great Tips for Shopping on Amazon

If you’re shopping for a bargain online, one of the first places to look is Amazon.com. But beware: Not everything that appears to be a great deal at Amazon is such and, just as in the offline world, it pays to consider the details.

Here are 6 great tips to keep in mind the next time you’re navigating the virtual aisles at Amazon.

Look for what you want in the bargain bins, found through a link named “Today’s Deals” at the top of every Amazon page. On the Today’s Deals landing page, you’ll find the Best Deals section loaded with bargains in every category, the Lightning Deals section with time-sensitive sales—lasting four hours or until the item is sold out—on products from a specific category like automotive or electronics, and a Deal of the Day discount of up to 75 percent off a single item that changes daily. On Fridays, find one-day discounts on even more products by clicking on the Friday Sale link at the top of the Today’s Deal’s page, where it’s adjacent to two more links worth using: those to Amazon’s Outlet Center and Warehouse Deals pages.

Don’t assume that any of the prices are the lowest available anywhere, especially if the seller is a third-party store. We've seen stores on Amazon sell products for as much as twice the retail price, often for products that are outdated or even obsolete. Check other retailers’ prices, and prices at specialty websites—Best Buy for electronics or Home Depot for tools, for example. If it is a hard-to-find item and you really MUST have it at any price, go ahead—at least you're making an educated choice.

Know what the real suggested retail price is of the product. Whether by design or error, it’s not that unusual to see inflated retail pricing so your discount appears higher than it actually is.

If you find an item at Amazon and you’re hoping the price will fall later, consider BuyLater. It’s an extension for Firefox, Chrome and Safari web browsers that adds a “Buy This Later” button to Amazon pages and, after you click it, sends you an email when the price changes.

Look carefully at who is selling and who is shipping the item you want. An item may be shipped by Amazon on behalf of another seller with a returns or exchange policy that is different from Amazon’s—and not to your liking. Items that are both sold and shipped by Amazon will be tagged as eligible for “Super Saver Shipping” or for free shipping via “Amazon Prime” (a pre-paid premium membership plan). And check out a seller's feedback rating before buying. If it has very few reviews or a satisfaction rating less than 90%, you may want to take your business elsewhere.

Super Saver shipping is available only if the total value of everything you’re buying at once is $25 or more—but being just shy of that minimum can push the cost with shipping charges past the price of the item elsewhere. In this case, check out filleritem.com. It’s a website that specializes in finding items on Amazon priced at exactly the amount you need—or slightly higher—to bring your order to $25.

Updated on October 19, 2011

Disclosure: Techlicious maintains an "affiliate" relationship with Amazon and may receive commissions for items purchased by clicking on product links or Amazon site advertising.

Discussion

BuyLater - how did you hear about us?

From Eliyah Finkelstein on October 20, 2011 :: 9:27 am

Hey Robert,

Great post! I’m one of the developers for BuyLater - thanks for including us in your article. I’m curious - where did you hear about BuyLater?

I just wanted to say

From Amber Turner on November 02, 2011 :: 5:21 pm

I just wanted to say that i like that you put the disclaimer at the end of the article. as far as i know it isn’t a requirement but it lends well to your credibility in my book. thanks and keep teaching an underly tech savy world to deal with an increasingly tech savy life

Alternative

Amazon prices are different if countries

From Ben Dyson on August 04, 2013 :: 10:11 am

I live in Europe and have found amazon prices differ in different countries, even when they are in the same currency of the Euro. This site has helped me to buy from the cheapest http://www.huge-river.com and is worth a mention

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